


the wait was well worthwhile

by Caroline Crane (carolinecrane)



Category: Camp (2003)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-18
Updated: 2009-12-18
Packaged: 2017-10-04 13:27:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carolinecrane/pseuds/Caroline%20Crane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ellen and Vlad break up a total of three times.  It takes her a little longer than that to get him out of her system.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the wait was well worthwhile

**Author's Note:**

  * For [alianne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/alianne/gifts).



> Many thanks to Grace for the beta. Without your help this would have been a much weaker story.

The first time Ellen and Vlad break up is when she catches him with Dee. She isn't even surprised, really, because Jill made sure she heard all about what happened between her and Vlad. He's used to attention from prettier girls than Ellen -- and whenever she thinks that she hears her father's voice -- but he never tried to go further than kissing with her, so she let herself believe that maybe she was different.

And she was. Just not in the right way.

She takes him back anyway, tells herself that she's a smart girl and she knows what she's doing. For awhile she can even believe it; she believes the smiles when they see each other again after weeks apart, and the way he looks at her like she's the only girl in the world. But they don't live that close to each other, which means they can't see each other all that often once they're back home. And he's an actor just like the rest of them, so it's not that hard to put on a convincing performance when he only has to do it one weekend a month.

~

The second time they break up, Ellen cries on Michael's shoulder all weekend. They're sitting side by side on her bed, spoons in a shared carton of ice cream and Ellen's copy of _Broadway: The American Musical_ playing on the DVD player. They're halfway through the section on _Company_ when Michael glances over at her and says, "You know, he tried to kiss me once."

She hits the pause button before she turns to look at him, freezing Stephen Sondheim in mid-sentence. "What?"

Michael shrugs and pushes his spoon around the melting Rocky Road. "It was nothing. I'm just saying, maybe it's no big loss, you know?"

"When was this?"

"At camp. Like, a million years ago. It was no big deal."

"No big deal, yet you're just telling me about it now."

"Seriously, he didn't even mean it. He's just, like, a total attention whore," Michael says, shifting against the headboard so he can look her in the eye. "He said so himself."

"I can't believe you never told me. I'd kick you out if you had anywhere to go," she says, shoving Michael's shoulder with her own to show she doesn't really mean it. Anyway, it's not true; Michael's still staying with his sister, at least until he saves up enough money to move to the city.

"Maybe I should have told you then," Michael says, and she knows that's his way of apologizing. "Maybe you wouldn't have gone out with him again if I did."

"Yeah, maybe," Ellen says, but she knows it's not true. Because Vlad's an attention whore, sure, but the thing is, she liked the attention too. She liked the way she felt when they were together, and she liked being able to say 'my boyfriend' the way the other girls at school did. She liked it enough to convince herself that getting together for an afternoon every few weeks would be enough for him, at least until that last time when she drove forty-five minutes to meet him only to find out that he was getting back together with Julie.

"It's just that we see each other all the time," he'd said. "We go to the same school and we have the same friends. It just makes sense."

She didn't cry until she made it back to her car, at least. She hadn't hit him either, and she still wasn't sure whether she was proud of her restraint, or mad at herself for wasting what was probably her last opportunity.

~

The third time they break up is right before senior prom. Over the phone, which is even worse, because this time she doesn't even get a chance to hit him. And she should have seen it coming, because she'd been talking about prom since he agreed to take her, but in all that time he'd never once mentioned his own prom.

She doesn't call Michael right away. He still doesn't understand why she gave him another chance in the first place, and she doesn't want to hear him say 'I told you so'. So she hangs up on Vlad and cries alone in her room, then she eats ice cream alone and watches the film version of _Rent_ so she can cry some more without anyone in her family asking her what's wrong. She makes it two whole days before she calls Michael, and practically as soon as she says 'hi' he knows exactly what's wrong.

"What happened?"

"He's taking _her_ to his prom. Can you believe that?"

"Yes," Michael answers, and for a second Ellen wishes she hadn't called. But he knows Vlad pretty well -- maybe even better than Ellen -- and she has to talk to _someone_. So she lets him lecture her on how he tried to warn her, and when he's done she tells him how she finally just asked Vlad if he was planning to take her to his prom. She was supposed to be his girlfriend, after all, and that was the kind of thing people did when they were dating. At least that's what she's always heard.

When he didn't answer right away she knew something was up, and finally he admitted that he'd never told Julie they weren't going to prom together. Of course, there was no reason for her to think they wouldn't be, since Vlad had never actually told Julie that he was seeing Ellen again. Which made Ellen the idiot who believed him when he said he missed her and he wanted her back, that things would be different this time.

The only thing that was different this time was that she'd actually asked him what was going on instead of pretending she didn't know he was lying to her. "God, I'm such an idiot."

"Yeah, you are," Michael says, and she rolls her eyes, but she can't help laughing into the phone.

In the end Michael takes her to her prom. She offers to let him wear a dress, but instead he shows up in a vaguely wrinkled suit he borrowed from his brother-in-law, and he even brings her flowers. "My sister threatened my life," he says as he slides the corsage onto her wrist. Ellen just grins up at him and lets her father take a picture before they climb into her mother's station wagon and head downtown to the Hilton ballroom. It's not the magic night she was hoping for, but Michael makes her laugh, and he's one of her best friends in the world, so the company's good. Anyway, it's a lot better than going with her brother.

~

She spends the first half of the summer before college half-hoping Vlad will call. Every time she catches herself glancing at the phone she rolls her eyes and tells herself to get a grip, but she can't quite shake the nagging feeling that there's still more to say. That somehow they're still connected, even if he's completely selfish and a total jerk besides.

When he doesn't call she figures he's getting the attention he craves so much from somebody else -- Julie, maybe, or another girl Ellen doesn't even know about -- and eventually she stops looking at the phone every time she passes it. Besides, she's got plenty to worry about with college starting, and by the time she moves into her dorm room at Columbia she doesn't think about Vlad at all. She's got classes to worry about now, and auditions to go on, and Michael rides the bus into the city and sleeps on her floor whenever he gets the chance. He spends every visit making all kinds of plans about what it's going to be like when he moves to the city, talking about looking for jobs or cheap apartments without ever actually doing anything to make it happen.

They all know the statistics -- like Bert would let any of them forget -- about the chances of any of them making it on Broadway. Practically nonexistent, sure, but if they don't try, then they're guaranteed to fail. That's what Ellen says every time her father suggests she go to college somewhere closer to home, maybe study something sensible like Chemistry or Accounting. She hears what he's not saying every time; she's not pretty enough to be an actress, not when there are plenty of girls out there who have talent _and_ looks. But instead of crying about it she just smiles and reminds him that this is the last chance she's got to be irresponsible before she has to grow up and start taking life seriously. There's plenty of time to be sensible, but if she doesn't try she'll never know if she could have made it.

She keeps her promise to her father and takes classes in between auditions, at least until the day the parts start taking up too much time to fit in classes. Mostly it's small stuff, so far off Broadway she can't even see the bright lights. She jokes with her friends about how it's better that way, because they don't have to deal with all the tourist traffic in Times Square. They all go out for every open call on Broadway anyway, and she's confident that it's only a matter of time before she gets her break.

She moved out of the dorm when she dropped out of school, and her father cut her off at the same time, so she shares a tiny apartment in a less than desirable part of Brooklyn with four other girls and a cat that may or may not belong to one of them. Money's always tight, the competition is cutthroat, and she loves every second of it.

~

It's at an audition for a revival of _Bye Bye Birdie_ that she sees Vlad again. She hasn't thought about him in forever, so it takes her by surprise. But not even Michael stayed in touch with him after school, so it's not like she would have heard that he's in the city. He's sitting against the wall at the far end of the room, surrounded by girls and talking earnestly about something while they all lean in like he knows the secret of life or something. He looks exactly the same: still handsome and blond, with that smile that makes her temperature rise a degree or two. It's the moment when she rolls her eyes that he looks up, staring at her for a second like he can't quite place her. Then he recognizes her, and when he stands up and heads for her she has to brace herself.

"Hey," he says when he reaches her, hand sort of floating in the air between them like he's not sure whether to touch her or not.

"Hi," she says, fingers clutching her shoulder bag just a little tighter. She waits for the awkward hug or maybe a hand on her arm, but it never comes. Instead Vlad lets his arm fall back to his side, then he slides his hands into the pockets of his jeans. Ellen watches his t-shirt stretch across his chest, wonders vaguely if the faded "Astroburger" logo on his shirt is advertising an actual place. "I didn't know you were in town."

He shrugs and she looks up again, catching his sheepish grin. "Figured I'd give it a try. I was in L.A. for awhile, but there's just something about the stage, you know?"

She doesn't point out that they have theaters in L.A. too. She knows how hard it is to make it in Hollywood, maybe even harder than New York. There are no chorus roles to keep the rent paid in the movies, anyway, and even the competition for commercials is cutthroat. So she doesn't bother telling him that Broadway won't be any easier. "Well, it's good to see you. Break a leg out there today."

"Yeah, you too," he answers, lifting his hand again in a funny sort of half-wave. "See you around, Ellen."

She waves back, but he's already turning away, back to the girls waiting to hang on his every word. Ellen reaches up to run a hand over her hair -- shorter now than when they knew each other -- and tries not to measure how much prettier those other girls are. He doesn't ask for her number, doesn't offer to buy her a cup of coffee for old times' sake or even just because she's one of the few people he knows in New York. Then again, Vlad's never had a hard time making friends, and he never really needed her the way she needed him.

Still, it's been a couple years since the last time she saw him, so it's hard not to steal glances across the room every now and then. Vlad never looks over at her again, though, not even when they call her number and she stands up to walk out to center stage. She knows he's not watching as she takes the stage, knows he didn't notice her leave and get up to see her perform. She glances offstage anyway, and when she doesn't see a familiar face smiling back at her she tells herself she's not disappointed.

Then the music starts, and she takes a deep breath and opens her mouth. She smiles her way through the first few lines of "How Lovely to Be a Woman", and by the time she reaches the first chorus, she's forgotten all about him too.


End file.
